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I've been working as an intern at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands,
for 3 weeks. The museum, which is situated by one of the canals in
the centre of Haarlem, is the Netherland's first museum open to the
public in the end of the 18th century. Its collection varies from
fossils, minerals and scientific instruments to paintings,
drawings, prints and coins. The architecture of the museum is also
very unique and beautiful. It's remained without any big change for
about two centuries.

From the beginning of the internship, I have been working on
preparation of a new exhibition starting on 28th September. The
prints, drawings and paintings of Raphael and artists who worked
around him will be on display. In the last 3 weeks, my main task
has been to frame prints and drawings with mount boards, acid-free,
archival quality boards.

Once placed in the mount boards, drawings will be displayed as
they are in glass showcases. Drawings, which are more fragile than
prints, will be put in frames before displayed in glass showcases.
There might be other copies of the prints that the museum owns, and
the ink used for the prints are quite stable. On the other hand,
each drawing is unique and their media, such as chalk or pencil,
are easily rubbed off from the surface. That is why two protective
layers are in front of drawings.

Mounting itself is a pretty simple work. Prints and drawings
were mounted in slightly different manners. Here, I explain the
method used for the prints.

First of all, the mount boards need to be cut into big enough
size to accommodate the largest print. Then, the width of each
margin around the object has to be measured. Based on this
measurement, a window is cut with the device shown in the image
below.

This is a gigantic tool with a tiny knife (the knife is behind a
silver plate with black handles). Its working mechanism is very
simple. The measurements of four margins are set at the rulers
placed along the edges. The knife moves along the edges and stops
at the right corners. Once the knife goes along four edges, now a
window with beveled edges is open.

Most of the prints had already been attached on thick papers,
but only at two corners. In order not to damage other two corners
while we handle the prints, they have to be attached to the thick
paper underneath. For this purpose, tiny rectangular pieces of
Japanese paper called lipjes, meaning lips in
English, are used. (Please don't ask me why they are called
lips).

I wish I could have taken much clearer photos of them, but they
are too small to capture with my camera... So, I'll try my best to
explain how it works.

Methyl cellulose is applied on one side of the lipjes. Then, it
is folded into half: side with methyl cellulose is outside. Into
the folded lipjes, wax paper cut into L-shape is inserted. And, it
is placed under a corner of the print. The L-shape prevent both
sides of the lipjes from sticking with each other. Half of the
lipjes is attached to the verso of the print and the other half to
the thick paper. Now, can you see that a lipjes works like a hinge
to hold an object?

With this method, the object does not directly contact with the
thick paper underneath, which makes it easier to take off the print
from the paper after the exhibition. You can cut a lipjes at the
folded crease or even lift it up to remove without any large stress
on the print.

After a window mount is hinged with a back board, a print
securely attached on a thick paper is positioned at the right place
on the board. Each corner is held by a piece of paper folded twice
into triangular shape. A corner is inserted into one of the folds
and the triangular paper is taped on the mount board.

My supervisor was taught this method by her colleague who works
as a photograph conservator. It is good because you don't need to
apply any adhesive directly on your object -- no possibility to
cause any stain or damage from adhesive. Also, when you need to
take off the print from the board, all you'll need is just to cut
the tape and open up the corner piece to release the object --
there won't be any stress on the print.

Corner of the print inserted into the fold of a triangular corner piece.

This is the preparation for prints. By now, all the prints are
ready for display. They will be carried to the exhibition room next
week and will be the first objects open to the public in the
Raphael exhibition.